Into the Mountains

In Ella we stayed at the Grand Peak Hotel, a smallish family hotel catering mainly to French tourists, the owners being fluent in French. Cooler than on the coast and in the lowland areas we took the opportunity to do some walking at Ella.

Rawena waterfall.

One day we walked 6 kms downhill to Rawena waterfall and then caught the local bus back up the hill. The falls were crowded with locals and tourists and one visitor said the waters are considered purifying by Buddhists, but these days I wouldn't put my head under water. We also walked up to Little Adam's Peak, a local mountain view point, from where you can look out over south-west Sri Lanka. We were followed almost the entire way by three of the myriad local dogs. These three seemed to decide that we were suitable new owners and embarrassingly took to defending us by growling at passing locals along the way. Have they worked out that Europeans are generous with treats? They got nothing more than a pat from us!

Looking from Little Adam's Peak across south west Sri Lanka.

This walk was our first experience of tea plantation country which is as picturesque as the Ceylon tea ads suggest. It was also where I first noticed something that would interest Edward were he to visit today. In the highland areas, often the dominant tree types are Australian eucalypts. Apparently these were first planted by tea plantation owners in the 1890's for fuel, building timber and to stabilise the hill sides. They are now so ubiquitous that a well educated Sri Lankan lady I was chatting to at a railway station, did not realise that they were not indigenous. I'm not sure why they were introduced because Sri Lanka has a variety of huge native trees that would have fulfilled most of the same functions although the gums do grow particularly tall and straight.

The road down to Rawena waterfall viewed from Little Adam's Peak.

The mountain railways twist and wind through tunnels, along death defying terraces and over waterfalls and streams, sometimes doing a complete circle back on themselves and another popular walk out of Ella is to the 9 Arches bridge, the largest on the line. Tourists and locals alike walk along the lines and even through tunnels in a way that would have Australian OH&S officers in a panic. We walked to a point overlooking the 9 Arches where an enterprising local had turned his front patio into a tea shop.

Train crossing 9 Arches Bridge.

Each railway station, no matter how small, has a white uniformed "admiral" replete with epaulets and rope lanyard whose job it is to supervise every train arrival and departure, blowing a silver whistle at appropriate times. However, promotion to this position must be a mixed blessing, especially in the hotter lowland locations where wearing the uniform must be a nightmare!

From Ella we also took the train to Badulla at the end of the rail line where tourists are few. So few that when we had lunch of tea, cakes and pastries at a local bakehouse, I queried the bill of 180 rupees as being too low. The lady re-checked it and assured me it was full price but was happy to accept my rounding up to 200.